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Collegiate Nationals Day 1
The last time I went to USAT Collegiate Nationals I was 20, naive, and got a flat tire. This year I'm, well, older, not as naive, and am counted upon in a lot more ways...I'm the coach. I'm coaching the UofAZ TriCats and it's time to show the tri world what we're made of.

Every trip has its hiccups. Ours just started early. On Thursday, the Uof Arizona TriCats began our trip to Tuscaloosa AL for the USAT Collegiate National Championships.

After Kyle's death threats upon anyone who dared show late, we arrived individually at the airport 11:30...give or take. The flight to DFW went well, nice and smooth. In Dallas, we had enough time to find our next gate, eat dinner, chat a bit, take a nap, get some work done, and compose a symphony. It was a long layover. We boarded the late-arrived airplane under chants of "Hurry up! Hurry up!" by the flight crew in order to make it out before a storm. We did. Oh, that's just the beginning.

When we got to Birmingham, the rental company lost our vans. An hour drive later the hotel lost our rooms, and we were beginning to lose sleep. At about midnight AL time (0200 AZ time) we were in the hotel, cozy and comfy in our rooms, visions of energy gels dancing in our heads.

Day 2
Today started early, with a drive-by preview of the bike course and a course layout walk. We talked about the course, transition area, and venue. After a nice dip in the murky-but-beautiful-to-swim-in Black Warrior River, we took a quick run on the race course to familiarize ourselves with the course. We decided to run the last mile of the course-it's a good thing to do that so you can see the whole course as typically the tunnel vision takes away the beauty of the last mile...

Our bikes hadn't shown up yet, one TriCat sprained his ankle on the run, we lost a carload of TriCats on the way to lunch... Par for the course so far. Actually, other than a few setbacks we're having a good time.

It's a great course-tree-lined smooth roads, rolling hills, beautiful water temperature. Beautiful. It'll also be tough. The hills on the run will take a bit out of everyone. We spoke a bit about the course and our strategy in racing it.

While taking our team photo, we heard a new voice call out something funny. We looked up, and there stood two-time Olympian and champion triathlete Hunter Kemper! He stayed and chatted for a bit with us. Very cool. He and the rest of the top American Pro triathletes were in AL to race the 2nd of three Olympic qualifying races. Whoever wins is going to Beijing!

After lots of bike maintenance and a quick shower we went to the pre-race dinner for a team feast, then off to bed. The TriCats' assignment is to visualize a great race, where they feel strong and fast. I had emails to get to and plans to get out.

Day 3 Race Day!!
That always means a 0400 wakeup, but last night's business, lots on my mind, nervousness over the race-oh, and the smoke alarm beeping, random phone rings, and the garbage truck at 0200-led to a restless night for me.

We lost the keys to a car, so it was a tight trip to the race area. Every coin has two sides-having to make 2 trips back to the hotel meant I could pick up a coffee on the 2nd trip! Coffee isn't so much a treat for me, it's more a necessity. Especially today. I got 2.

I helped the TriCats get their tires pumped, brakes adjusted, and strategies developed and wished them each good luck and fast feet. Then they were off. The race was exciting to watch. There were some of the sport's top athletes in the field-including pros, amateur champions, and then the few first timers all in one race. Very cool. I felt like a proud dad with everyone out there. I have a stack of photos and a hoarse voice to go with my sunburn.

We as a team had a great race. We of course, had some cramping and small hiccups, but we had fun and succeeded in our goals of having fun and enjoying the day. Lots of victories today: Kathy blasted the 2nd best bike of the day for the women to finish in 5th overall. We knew that was an achievable goal, but she had to have a perfect race in order to do that. She did. Alex had an unbelievable swim and a good solid run to finish in the top 50. Renee and Quack PR'd by 40 minutes. Kiley completed her first Olympic distance race. Andy(x2) had very solid evenly paced races and Makko had his best race of his career. Not all victories were apparent, however. Shawn's race was plagued with cramping, but his attitude was impressive! I'm not mentioning everyone of the 20 athletes, but all finished! Nice work everyone!

After our race we got to stay and watch the pro women and men race for their spot in Beijing. Holy buckets they are fast! We bumped into the family of 3rd place finisher Sarah Groff during her race and rooted her on as family members. Then, in an amazing display of tactics and speed, newly-sworn American citizen Matt Reed broke away from a very fast men's field to come in off the bike in the lead by 25 seconds...and held off the sport's top runners! He high-5'd everyone in the front 2 rows bear the finish line and stayed for our cheering for a looong time. He was stoked! Congratulations and best of luck to you both in the Olympics!

We went to the awards ceremony to see Kathy get her hardware for her 5th overall and her 2nd among graduate students, and then went to dinner. We went to BBQ (what else in the south??) where we dined with Ohio athletes and hob-knobbed with Cal-Berkley and Montana. After that, ice cream and post race debrief with a few of the athletes and friends. Good times.

Day 4
Today was a good opportunity to sleep in, as our vans didn't leave until 1100. The flights home were smooth and on time, and all were a little tired and sore. A good race.

We finished 15th out of the 58 full teams, but with 117 schools represented. All in all, a successful and fun trip! Can't wait until next year!

Brian

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